ICF and perception of functioning according to children/adolescents in follow-up with speech/language disorders.
Amanda Brait Zerbeto, Maria de Lurdes Zanolli, Regina Yu Shon
PMID 37585894WHAT IT FOUND
Children with speech disorders reported that therapy made speaking and socializing easier.
They also noticed family and friends becoming more supportive. This suggests asking patients directly about their daily life can reveal improvements that standard clinical tests might miss.
Key findings
01Participants with speech and language disorders reported statistically significant improvements in articulation and fluency, as well as in activities like speaking, conversing, and relating to others.
02Attitudes of immediate family members and friends shifted from being barriers to being facilitators for communication over the course of therapy.
03Ten participants were discharged from therapy before the second interview, which complicates the interpretation of the remaining group's progress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is not a randomized controlled trial; it is a descriptive cohort with a non-randomized comparison group. There was attrition in the SLD group: 10 of 30 participants were discharged before the second interview, which may bias the results toward those who responded well to therapy. The intervention was not standardized across all participants (e.g., family groups were not always possible for speech disorders), making it hard to attribute changes to specific treatment components. The ICF qualifiers rely on subjective interpretation by judges, which can introduce variability. The study design cannot prove that the therapy caused the changes; natural development or other environmental factors could also play a role.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources are mentioned in the provided text beyond the ethics committee approval.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the improvements as proof that this specific therapy protocol caused the change. The study lacked a control group receiving no treatment, and 10 of the 30 participants in the disorder group were discharged before the second assessment, meaning the results reflect the trajectory of those who stayed in therapy.